PLYMOUTH — Having your first at-bat mid-game isn’t a brilliant state of affairs for a baseball participant. Having that probability come inside the bottom of the seventh in a tie sport is far more robust.
Plymouth North senior Josh Bates was confronted with that exact state of affairs and he laced a line drive into left space to supply the Eagles a 6-5 victory over Patriot League rival Duxbury on Friday afternoon.
“I wasn’t actually anticipating to rise up so rapidly,” Bates acknowledged. “Our four-hitter (George Slauson) is absolutely good, however they walked him, and it was my flip. I’ve had a superb season on the plate, and I used to be assured I might win it.”
Bates, who entered inside the excessive half of the inning as a defensive substitute, couldn’t have been as unfastened as any individual who had carried out your complete sport, nevertheless Eagles coach Dwayne Follette knew his slugger was as a lot because the responsibility.
“For Bates to come back into the sport in that state of affairs and get that hit is large,” Follette acknowledged. “He’s second on the workforce in hitting and I’m not shocked he got here via for us.”
The victory tasted sweet for the Eagles, nevertheless the state of affairs received right here after the group blew a three-run lead in the middle of the sooner two innings. The Dragons put two runs all through the board inside the opening inning, nevertheless 5 Eagle runs over the first two innings put them in a superb place late.
Nonetheless, a combination of walks and hits put the gritty Dragons once more inside the sport, they normally virtually took a lead inside the excessive of the seventh. A leadoff single from Anthony Rabeni was adopted by two outs, nevertheless back-to-back walks to Conner O’Connell and Nick Ayres loaded the bases. That’s when Eagles pitcher Cody Quinn reared once more and induced a ground ball to himself to get Plymouth North out of the inning.
“After we walked Ayres with the bases loaded it put a number of stress on our pitcher,” Follette acknowledged. “For him to get an out on a 4-3 floor ball, that was a giant state of affairs.”
The Eagles took this momentum and capitalized when Mark McKay hit an infield single. He reached second on a wild pitch sooner than advancing to third on a worthwhile bunt from Connor McKenzie.
“Having my three-hitter get a bunt down within the backside of the inning was enormous,” Follette acknowledged. “We haven’t performed actually good small ball all 12 months, and that play put a number of stress on Duxbury.”
This led to the stroll of Slauson and eventual game-winning hit from Bates.
“Put the bat on the ball, anyplace it goes is what you want,” Bates acknowledged. “I knew he was operating on contact, so so long as I put the ball in play it was going to work out.”
